Planned Air Force Cuts Would Affect Ohio Sites

Newly detailed Air Force plans to cut personnel and aircraft as part of a larger downsizing are expected to affect several Ohio locations. Multiple news outlets report four multipurpose cargo planes from the Ohio Air National Guard base in Mansfield would be retired. Ohio's senators have said they would fight to preserve that aircraft program. Six tanker aircraft at Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base near Columbus also would be retired. The moves were part of plans detailed Friday to cut the service by nearly 10,000 active, National Guard and Reserve airmen next year and shift capabilities around the country. It wasn't all bad news for Ohio. The plans indicated Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton might get more program-analysis and intelligence missions as part of the restructuring.